Defense? Check.
Speed? Check.
Footwork? Combination punching? Body work? Check, check and check.
There is little that Chad Dawson can?t do in a boxing ring. It?s one of the reasons that Floyd Mayweather Jr., No. 2 on Yahoo! Sports? pound-for-pound list, once called Dawson the best fighter in the world.
When it comes to Dawson, though, it often seems that the whole is less than the sum of its parts. Dawson has a glittering 30-1 record with 17 knockouts, but he so frequently leaves you underwhelmed after watching him fight. The sense that there is so much more he could give is palpable.
He?ll need to give all he can Saturday when he meets veteran Bernard Hopkins for the Ring and World Boxing Council light heavyweight titles in the main event of an HBO Pay-Per-View card at Staples Center in Los Angeles.
The 46-year-old Hopkins is almost the exact opposite of Dawson, in that he squeezes every last bit out of his talent. Whereas one plus one seems to equal three with Hopkins, two plus two far too often appears to equal three with Dawson.
Dawson?s promoter, Gary Shaw, said part of the perception problem is that Dawson is so gifted.
